Heavy-truck-tire flap



A. O. ABBCTJT, JR

HEAVY TRUCKA Apr. 3, E923.

T ERE FLAP Filed om;j

i i i y i pacata luarras srares rara-ur ermee] O. ABBOTT, JR., OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGN OR TO MORGAN & WRIGHT; A

' CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN. l

HEAVY-renommer: FLAI.

.application filed October 4, 1920. Serial No. 414,495.

To @ZZ w/iom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ADRIAN 0. Anno'i'r, sra/a citizen of the United States, residing ati/Det,'roit7 county of l/Vayne and State oi ,Michi an have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l-leavy-Truck-Tire Flaps, oi which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to tire fiaps which are used to prevent the relatively delicate inner tube of pneumatic tires from being pinched betWee/n tire beads and the Wheel rim or felice.

Flaps for /ordinary sized pneumatic. tires l are usually I"constructed of frictioned plies of fabric that are laminated together; While stantially the same thickness throughout its Width. It has been found that these lamihated fabric fiaps are not satisfactory forf such large pneumatics as are used on trucks yand particularly when the inside bead Walls .of the casing are in service nearlyI at right angles to the Wheel rim, as is the case with ,some kinds of straight sided tires having inextensible beads.

he present invention aims to provide a iiap that Will anchor the beads of heavy truck tire casings against lateral shifting towards one another; that will grip and brace the casing 1n a manner relieving its sit e. is from abrupt shearing stress along The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a longitudinal cross section through lapped ends of the Hap, and

Figs. 2 and 3 are cross sections of the fia y .on lines 2-2 and 3-3 respectively of Fig. l.

The flap is composed of rubber composition l and pliesY of covering fabric 2, 3 and 4 'which extend from one end of the article to the other and form a durable wear surface as Well as a reinforcement for the rubber composition body. he .intermediate body of the iiap is of the trough shape shown in cross section in Fig. 3. A substantially flat i base 5 Vis* provided to engage the Wheel rim between the beads or toes of the outer casing, Whichlatter are engaged by the flan es or side walls 6 of the flap. The side wa ls de- 60 crease in thickness towards their edges and are flared so as to lie snugly against the inside Walls of the casing. They faces of the side Walls 6 and seating surface 5 meet at a substantial angle and form shoulders 7 65 where the casing normally leaves the rim lng to whichthey are subjected when the inner tube is inflated.

The ends 8 and 9 of the flap are reduced 75 in thickness so that when lapped as shown in Fig. 1 the periphery of the tube engaging sion. The reduced ends. are preferably duction in thickness is made upon opposite has its outer surface reduced so as to fit into the depression of the first mentioned end oi"v 90 the flap, And preferably the reductions in ythickness of the opposite ends ofthe flap are sufficient to make the lapped ends of the flap equal in thickness the intermediate body portion of the flap.

In the manufacture, one half of a mold is lined with the fabric ply 2, a strip of unsteam heated platens.

fter curing, the reduced ends of the Hap are apertured as indicated at l0 and ll to,

receive a valve stem.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have provided a new and useful flap that Will not only anchor or hold U0 otherwise be applied to no corner or i5 o-reater durability 'Having what I claim and desire to protectaby Let-l a body 30 Whose opposite ends are and outside respecti\e l.\'

the beads of tire casings against. lateral shifting towardseach other` but will also grip and brace the casing at the lwads so as t0 distribute the .shearing stress that would the tire casing Where it inunerges from the riin flanges. The inner tube cavit)1 that is delined by the casing and the flap is substantially circulai' or elliptical in cross lsection land ollers ledge in which the inner ltube may lodge in a condition distorted troni its normal circular form. thus tending to prolong its life. And b v the molded construction of the reduced ends ot the iap is secured than has heretofore been achieved with hand-skived aps wherein the vulcanized Vrubberhas been cut or scraped from the fabric and 'where deterioration has beenliable by the action o Water. The molded ieduced ends being made in the saine operation as the major or body portion of the flap` the' articles may be manufactured more cheaply and uniformly.

l thus described my invention,

ters Patent is: l

1. A trough-shaped tire-flap composed of of vulcanized rubber composition reduced in thiclcness on the inside thereof, and fabric covering the outside ant inside ot' the flap and united b v vulcanization t0 thebody otrubber composition.

2. A molded trough-shaped tire flap havwithin said ygaging a casing a tube-receiving cavity of nearly ing outer covering plies of fabric and an intermediate body of 'rubber composition`r one end of said flap having a depression 0n its tube engaging tace and the other end of said flap being reduced externally to tit depression whereby when the ends of the flap are lapped a substantially continuous. smooth. annular surface may be presented to an inner tube. i

3. .X pneumatic tire fla-p comprisingr an annular` substantially flat-bottomed. troughshaped structure having overlapped ends and composed ot surface plies oi fabric and an interposed filler composition.

al. A pneumatic tire vflap consisting of a strip of rubber composition havingr a base` portion "witli a lat rim-engaging tace adapted to be seated on a Wheel-rim and fill the' space between the' beaded portions of a casing, upstanding flanges of increas; ing flexibility towards vtheir free edges and of a length and thickness adapted to relieve the side `walls of a casing from abrupt shearing stress in the region of 'the riin flanges, and overlapping ends reduced in Ithickness on their' outside and inside respechaving. a curved tube-endetines with the inside of tively` said Hap face which circular cross-section.

Signed at Detroit,'county oi Wayne, State of Michigan, this 27th day of September',`

ADRIAN O. ABBOTT, JR.

ot vulcanized rubber. 

